Aspiration is out as Lib fail ushers in new Labor era of welfare and government dependency

If Labor succeeds in creating a widespread culture of welfarism, centre-right economic liberalism and aspiration will become as endangered as a koala population at a wind farm.

Trying to figure out what caused the Liberal party’s spectacular Saturday night collapse feels a bit like being a coroner establishing the cause of death of a man who jumped out of a burning airplane and landed in a glass recycling plant.

Except instead of fire, gravity or cuts, those picking through the wreckage are stuck deciding whether to blame a lack of policies, women voters, or an inability to counter Labor’s dishonest scare campaign.

None of these angles are wrong, of course.

The Liberal campaign failed in all these ways and more.

But ultimately, the party forgot what it stood for, failed to articulate its values through the prism of policy and ideas, lost its way, and reaped the bitter results.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor was among the multitudes who failed to sell a compelling economic plan for the Liberals. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Whether it can find its way back remains an open question.

Already the talk is of two more terms in the wilderness, leaving Australia to the fate of a lost decade of declining productivity and increased dependence on the state.

Big money donors are said to be closing their chequebooks.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton concedes defeat on Saturday night. Picture: Dan Peled/Getty Images

And why wouldn’t they, given the party that is supposed to be the lower tax, smaller government party let Labor run to the right of them, while internal party games saw real reform of income tax brackets left on the shelf?

And there is worse to come.

The Albanese government’s unchecked spending is threatening our credit rating.

We will soon be printing large cash deficits forever, with no end in sight.

If global trade tensions take a turn for the worse, commodities prices will head south, leaving us unable to pay for any of this largesse.

Plans are afoot to go after unrealised capital gains by Labor ministers who’ve never run a balance sheet and have no idea what such schemes will do to risk taking add to the burden.

Add in an increasingly-regulated economy dotted with various slush – sorry, “future” – funds aimed at pushing business to do the government’s bidding and it’s not hard to see why the word Argentina gets tossed around when talk comes to what come next.

But the great paradox for Liberals is that even when things inevitably turn bad, there is no guarantee voters will turn their way.

Argentina, seen here in 2001, was once a wealthy nation but economic mismanagement led it down a dark path until more recent efforts to cut debt and reform the economy.

If Labor succeeds in creating a widespread culture of welfarism and dependence, centre-right economic liberalism and aspiration will become as endangered as a koala population at a wind farm.

Because have no doubt, the re-elected Albanese wants to use its time in office to fundamentally remake the way Australians think and relate to one other, the free market, and the government.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers may have written an entire thesis on Paul Keating without learning anything about economic reform, but the former prime minister’s words – “change the government and you change the country” – have loomed large ever since election night 2022.

And Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s mantra about no one held back and no one left behind sounds warm and fuzzy at first listen.

But (and to be quite clear, this column is not accusing the PM of being a communist) this saying also rhymes a little too closely with the old Marxist formula.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

You know the one: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

It’s eerily totalising, and suggests in keeping with his own life story, Albanese believes that government is the lever for every success and the only cushion to every failure.

Meanwhile, the glory days of Australian economic and cultural performance – when the place not only felt like it was getting rich but also outperforming on the global stage – is receding in the rear view mirror.

The over-55s who are still bolted on to the Liberals may want to bring this back but it’s a meaningless vision to those who are younger, or like around half our population, come from somewhere else and were not here to experience it.

It’s not a pretty picture, and for Liberals things must seem as grim they did for Laborites when they realised the Howard era was going to run for the long haul.

But things can always change.

Labor of course came back to power in 2007 with, as hilarious as it seems now, the youthful vigor of Kevin Rudd leading the way under a sort of Coalition-Lite agenda that leveraged Howard’s overreach on industrial relations.

If the Liberals can do the work, refocus their freedom-minded values and sell them to a population eventually wearied by government overreach, over-regulation, inflation, and debt, they too will have a chance.

One hopes with a leader a bit more personable.

Originally published as Aspiration is out as Lib fail ushers in new Labor era of welfare and government dependency